Guest

LivingDead

general-contributor

Number of posts : 3370Registration date : 2008-09-27

Deank wrote:fine.. sell it for Fair Market value.. that could at least make sense. but they dont

Case in point... Manfor pulp mill in The Pas.. sold to Repap for $1. included in sale... millions of dollars to enhance and repair the roads.... millions of acres of rights to northern forests... guarentee that they will stay around??? ZERO...

ONE FREAKIN DOLLAR and no job gaurentees or anything.. this at a time when Manfor was making some serious money.

I dont understand, I thought you were talking aout how much you hate Conservatives?

Manfor was sold by the federal conservatives?

Anyhow lets discuss The Sale of a vegetable canning factory in Morden Manitoba, in the 70's. John Buhler bought a canning factory from Some Japanese Investors with $25k down and Financing from a bank. Mr Buhler sold the inventory for $1million and then sold the factory to The NDP government for a huge profit. Mr Buhler made enough money from this to buy FarmKing and launching him into Manitoba Manufacturing Who's Who. The NDP government then sold the Factory to other investors at a loss.

Guest

St Norberter

Should government be in business? I think the grey line is the difference between what is an essential service and what is a business.

For example - MLCC - is that an essential service? To sell liquor? Nope. I can't see any other reason why the government needs to be in this business except to make money for prov. coffers. Of course the privitization will never happen. Why? Because Unionized MLCC staff who make more than any other retail ( alcohol sales is retail) would have a fit. Does the government need to be involved in liqour regulation? Probably a good idea but you can regulate without being involved in sales.

Is Hydro a business vs. essential service? Probably an essential service. But how do you privitize this? I don't think you can, if for no other reason the barriers to entry are insane ( how many comanies want to get into a business where your first expense is building a hydro dam?!) contrast that to the cost of setting up liquor sales.

There are some crown corporations that make sense. There are alot that don't.

rosencrentz

uber-contributor

Number of posts : 9945Registration date : 2008-10-05

That is how I managed to get on Wellington Crescent! I proposed a way to get someone out of the Northend and for only $250,000 to get into a home on Wellington Crescent.The government thought it was a good idea to get someone out of the northend, so I got my forgiveable loan!All I had to do was promise not to return to the Northend, unless I was picking up a hungry hooker!

Time Lord

grumpy old man wrote:We can parallel hydro with oil. Alberta does not see a need to be in the oil business but extracts huge $$$'s from every barrel of oil extracted.

Manitoba could do this with Hydro revenues. That said Hydro might well be the one cash cow that ought not be privatized.

Right. Not only does Hydro make money for the province (ie taxpayers) we also get the best electricity rates in North America.

The feds have suggested selling crown corporations to raise some cash. The Mint is one being touted. The mint makes something like $250 million a year in profit. Why would any sane person get rid of something that profitable? Shot term gain for long term loss. Brilliant.